A loud whining and a flash of light disturbed Jack’s training. Despite the pain, he got up and went to the wall to see what’s going on. The wolves were fleeing. The alpha was lying on the ground, but without the head, which was lying a few meters to the side. Most surprising – there was a guy in the green scale armor. He looked in the fleeing wolves direction for a while and dashed to the fortress. His speed was far greater than that of a running wolf. Jack was barely able to keep an eye on him. He stepped on the wall.

“I’m colonel Rudolph Alpin. Who is the leader of this gathering?”

“It’s me,” the elder said.

“Is that everyone who survived?”

“Yes. Everyone from 6 nearby villages.”

“… I see. Due to migration of locus swarm, large parts of the farming area were destroyed and many people killed. The frontier haven’t broken, however. Soldiers at the frontier went to shelters, as fighting such swarm is an impossibility. Some wolves packs managed to cross the frontier in this mess. Reinforcements from the interior will arrive in the few hours, and sweep local lands while hunting monsters. There will be also recruitment to the military.”

Colonel went silent for a moment and started speaking again.

“Regarding food and seeds, everything will be managed by the imperial court and it’s not my domain, by judging from my experience, you will get meat from the frontier for now and seeds in the autumn from the imperial court storages. That would be all.”

Armored guy jumped off the wall and ran in the north direction, presumably to check on the others who survived the swarm. Jack was thinking only about one thing – food! An expedition to the dugout was quickly organized. Jack wanted to join as well, by he was barely standing. Half an hour later, 20 farmers returned with meat and another half an hour later Jack was eating with his family. The bliss! Everyone was happily eating. He ate as much as he could, nearly vomiting at the end. After that, Jack took a nap.

He was waked up by a marching sound. Hundreds of people marched east. Most were scantly clothed, similarly to the farmers. Each had a white bony spear. A the end were huge monsters, each one pulling an equally huge cart. They were gray furred, 6-legged and 3 meters tall. Their six legs were similar do insect’s legs in arrangement, but not in appearance. They were furry and fleshy, but not like stick-like insects’ legs. That was as close comparison as Jack could make with his limited understanding. After a while a middle aged guy came close to the fortress. He had a fur armor, which protected his torso and genitals, but not legs and arms. On his limbs there were additional armor pieces protecting his arm and forearm each, leaving exposed elbow and flesh in the middle. His legs were protected similarly. He had a bag to his side.

“Attention! I’m the military recruiter assigned here and I will conduct recruitment now. Everyone with level 5 and without tier 2 class raise your hand. “

Only 7 children raised their hands, including Jack’s brother - Bob.

“Now, everyone who advanced to 2nd tier class last year.”

Four people raised their hands, including Jack.

“40% of level 5 children are conscripted every year, as you all know. Eleven in total, so four of you will be conscripted. Any volunteers?”

Two from the seven children’s group stepped forward. The rest immediately got pale. Jack was familiar with the conscription process. There was a limited number of farmers needed to cultivate fields. The rest usually became crafters or went to the military. Children with lower farming skills were persuaded or even forced to join. It was not very bad, since those children had a low farming skill, because they didn’t like farming and weren’t dedicated to learning it. If they weren’t good at farming, then there was also crafting, but only the best with manual skills could become crafters.

Some also thought, that living as a soldier is a better future. Unfortunately, the quota must always be met and if volunteers aren’t enough, people are conscripted by the recruiter from level 5 first tiers, or if they also weren’t enough, then from 2nd tiers who advanced last year. Jack didn’t volunteer himself for the last two years, because there is a test for becoming a monster hunter. Most conscripts would become soldiers defending the frontier. He was hoping to improve his skills and stats before that. There were also enough volunteers.

In the current situation, all preparations were destroyed and it was obvious that the recruiter would need to forcefully conscript 2 more from the seven. Lucky for them, Jack waited for this conscription a long time.

“Excuse me!” Jack shouted. “I want to join. I got a combat class in the fight with the swarm.”

“Ok.” The recruiter looked him over. “That would be one more to go. Anyone?”

Remaining 5 children looked a bit relieved as probability of being selected just dropped to 20%.

“Ok, then…. I will choose… you.”

“What?” Bob was flabbergasted. “Why me?! I’m only 12!”

“Why not? You look fine.”

Recruiter took a parchment from his bag and asked for their names. Jack didn’t know how to write or read, but he knew that the elder had similar parchment in which he had a list of people in the village. It was a system to prevent escaping conscriptions and most likely more, but Jack had no idea what more use could it have.

System information were more like a memory. A memory, which was updating itself, and you could think about any time. Reading wasn’t necessary.

“I want you four to appear at that guy’s cart in 30 minutes, otherwise you will get a military punishment,” the recruiter said, pointing at one of the guys guiding a gray beast with a rope.

The recruiter left after that.

“Jack, Bob, come over here!” Jack’s mother shouted.

Bob kicked the ground and went to mother and the rest of the family.

“Bob, I’m sure you will be fine.”

“I never wanted to be a soldier. I thought I had some time. I was level 4 before the fight with the swarm.”

“Son,” started father, “I didn’t know you hated joining the military that much. You are not the greatest farmer.”

“It’s not that… It’s just…”

“He doesn’t want to die,” interrupted Tom.

“It’s not that… It’s… Ok. I don’t want to die.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

“We won’t. There aren’t even that high causality rates,” replied Jack. While monsters hunters died easily, normal soldiers normally lived long.

“You see? Stick to your brother, he was preparing for it for years,” said father.

“I know,” said visibly annoyed Bob.

“Jack,” started mother, “I prepared some jerky for you, since you have recently changed class.”

“What if I get hungry?” Bob asked, annoyed.

“Then I’m sure Jack will share. Just don’t eat everything, Jack needs to get some fat.”

“Thanks mom!” Jack replied. “Ok. I think we should go.”

“Take care!” Mother said, while caching Jack and then Bob in the hug.

Soon after their father also hugged them.

“Go and make me proud! I’m sure you two will be a terror of the frontier. “

Bob looked even more annoyed. After making goodbyes two boys went to indicated guy. Two others joined them. Jack hadn’t known these two. Jack wasn’t very popular to begin with, not to mention these two weren’t from his village – they weren’t living in a close proximity to Jack.

Bob knew their names, but excluding Bob’s and Jack’s relation, they were all strangers. The girl name was Maria and the boy name was Steve. The conversation wasn’t able to last long as they soon arrived close to a gray beast.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Hello. We are new recruits. We were ordered to come here,” said Jack.

„Umm, ok. Wait a moment.”

The middle aged guy climbed by the ladder on the card pulled by the gray beast. He soon descended holding four bony spears.

“Here. Standard weapon. There are monsters still in the interior, everyone needs something to defend.”

“What about some armor?”

“Ha, you can stop dreaming. If you are lucky, maybe you will get one in the future. Anyway, we are transporting food, so you know where to get some. We will most likely get to the frontier before the night, but nobody can say for sure what will happen. “

“So, what do we need to do now?” Bob asked.

“Nothing, or at least, I don’t know anything. Just march like the rest, you will get your orders when we get to the place. You know how officers are. They shout orders just because they can.” The guy replied with a shrug.

The whole column of soldiers never stopped when passing the peasants’ fortress, but supply carts were in the back, so the four weren’t required to run after the column.

The spear Jack got was fairly heavy. Jack hadn’t high strength at that point and could feel, he would not be able to use the spear properly.

“Jack, you should know what happens next, right?”

“I do, to some degree. When we get to the frontier they will check if everyone is there. After that, there will be a test for becoming a monster hunter. They limit that only 20% of new recruits can become monster hunters.”

“What is the difference between being monster hunter or not?” Maria asked.

“Soldiers are stationary force, they defend fortifications. Monster hunters are mobile force, they hunt monsters both in the interior and in the exterior.”

“So, which one is better?”

“It depends. Being a monster hunter is a way more dangerous, but you can level quicker and get better training. Soldiers are in a pretty safe situation, comparing to monster hunters. You can think about it that way – there is only 1 monster hunter on 10 soldiers.”

“Wait. You mean, half of them dies?” Bob asked.

“Yes.”

“Shit.”

Jack shrugged.

“Normally, it’s safer to be a soldier, but in case of some serious monster attack, it’s better to be stronger.”

“So, who are you going to be?” Stave asked.

“I will try to pass the test and become the monster hunter.”

“Even if it’s dangerous?”

Jack shook his head.

“If you are a monster hunter, you will die only if you are weak and unskilled. For soldiers, they die when there is a serious attack, like insect swarm. I would say, there isn’t much difference between living as a farmer and a soldier. I don’t want to rely on luck anymore.”

After that, there was silence, as the three was thinking about their life choices.

Ding… Your Base agility has reached lv. 7

Jack willed his status.

Name: Jack   Age: 14   Class: Survivor Level:8 93% to next lv Stats: Base Essence reinforced Strength 5.59/25 8.27 (6%/level) Endurance 6.89/30 10.44 (6%/level) Intelligence 11.16/25 16.51 (6%/level) Mental Endurance 10.86/30 16.07 (6%/level) Agility 7.00/30 10.72 (7%/level) Perception 9.43/20 15.65 ((10 + (6+1)%)/level)       Class skills:    

Economy of movement

Scavenging

13

1

  Professions: 1/5   Conman I Skills:    

Analyze

Farming

Cooking

Sword Handling

Spear Handling

Rune Shaping

Charisma

Crafting

Archery

Pain Tolerance

7

19

9

8

11

22

19

3

15

16

  Vitality 403/448 Stamina 89/100 Clarity 131/160

‘Damn… My physical base stats declined. If I hadn’t leveled, my strength would have gotten lower. My mental endurance rose pretty nicely, which is a bitter recompense for the pain. I should soon get its base to level 11. Unfortunately, my vitality hasn’t recovered yet.’

Thinking about bars, Jack quickly went with his thoughts to Rick’s lessons.

“Uncle, how should I read bars?”

“Well, stamina and clarity are simple. The maximal amounts are determined by your endurance and mental endurance. Using strength deplete your stamina, using more strength deplete more, using less deplete less. It’s the same with clarity and intelligence.  Bars recover relatively fast. Stamina can recover for that much (about 70%)”, he showed with his hands a portion of total  “a day if you are resting. Clarity recovers even faster, if you are resting your mind. You can recover it two times a day. The best way to recover clarity is sleeping. Some classes can recover the bars faster, but I have no idea which ones.” Rick explained, while showing things with his hands. Neither of the two could read, but they could still observe their bars. System had its means to deliver information, though it wasn’t very detailed.

“What will happen when stamina or clarity is exhausted?”

“It’s impossible. When stamina gets below that much (30%) you should feel very fatigued. At that point it’s very hard to use all your strength. At some point you would be completely spent and not able to use your muscles. Theoretically you should still have a bit of stamina, but it would be insanely difficult to spend it. It’s the same with clarity.”

“What about vitality?”

“Vitality is a bit harder do explain. Generally,  you can think of it as a measure of how resilient is your body. I mean, that’s a max value. When your vitality drops, that means your body is not in the best condition. Think of lacking vitality as a measure of how much energy and mass you will need to get fully healthy. When I say full, I really mean it. Even when you are just hungry your vitality drops a bit.”

“So, no vitality means I’m dead, right?

“When your vitality is low, that means it’s hard for your body to function properly. When vitality drops is no more, that means body can’t function on its own and most importantly, can’t fix itself any longer even with the life spells. Even the best regeneration boosting spells won’t help, since body can no longer fix itself. For example, let’s say your throat got cut. Your vitality would drop a bit, but not completely. Without a healing spell you are already dead, but your status don’t know that. You are losing blood, therefor, your vitality is dropping, as your body will need more energy to replenish it. When you lose most of your blood, your body will not be able to recover, even if someone mends your throat. “

“And I will die then?”

“Yes. I heard once, that there are powerful healing spells not based on regeneration, but healing directly. Such spell could heal someone with no vitality. In some cases a blood transfusion can also help. Obviously, you can’t stay at no vitality for long, and if someone,  let’s say,  cut you in half, it’s over.”

“So, how the system determines if someone is dead?”

“If the essence pattern in you gets destroyed, the system announces your death. Patterns are not so easily destroyed, the only sure death situations are losing a large part of your torso or head.   

“I will take the test to monster hunters. “

“What?” Dazed Jack asked.

“I mean, I will try to join. I think, since there is a test, being a monster hunter is better than being a soldier,” Maria said.

“Um, yeah, sure.”

“Really? I thought that you two won’t try to get there, since it’s dangerous. Actually, why did you volunteered in the first place, you could be omitted by the recruiter,” Bob asked.

“I haven’t told you I will take the test,” Steve said, “Well, I think I will, but you shouldn’t generalize like that.”

Bob rolled his eyes.

“Well, I never liked farming or was good with my hands, so joining the military was the only choice,” Maria looked away and continued. “When the swarm attacked, all my family died. I have survived, because I managed to hide. Nothing keeps me in my old home.”

“My situation is kinda similar, I suppose,” Steve said.

Bob signed.

“Bob, what are you going to do?” Jack asked.

“Dad told me to keep an eye on you, right? I suppose I will take the test as well.”

“Great!”

Jack was asked a few more times about the military by the rest. His knowledge was limited and soon there was nothing to add. Group marched in silence from now on.

‘I have over 16 intelligence, I think I should be able to cast the minor recovery spell’

Jack wasn’t able to cast it in the fortress, because of the starvation pain distracting him.

‘It should also be hard to cast it while walking, but I don’t have anything better to do.’

Jack tried to draw the spell…

“Where are you going?” Bob asked.

“Um, I’m sorry. I was thinking about something.” Jack said.

‘It seems I need to pay at least a bit of attention to where I’m walking.’

This time Jack kept a bit of attention on walking and started sketching the spell. Keeping attention to two things at once was distracting, and Jack could feel he wouldn’t be able to complete the spell this way.

Ding… You have learned Parallel Thinking skill – lv. 1

‘Ok. If I had known I could grind this skill that way I would have done so long ago…’

Jack continued to train, keeping minimal attention to walking and maximum to rune shaping.

‘I suppose this is the skill shortcoming. You can’t do two task requiring active thinking. One task is basically delegated to subconscious and needs to be repeatable and passive.’

Such training was even more mental tiring than normal and Jack was forced to stop after 30 minutes. After dully walking for another 30 minutes some of Jack’s clarity returned and he continued. The weather changed during their march, and it started to rain.

‘Right. Elders told us about the rain before the swarm. I suppose that’s it.” The rain was falling slowly, wetting earth. The column marched unbothered. Jack also didn’t care, unless there was going to be mud. That would be a bother.

When he could see fortifications on the horizon, it’s been over 6 hours and quite a few skill notifications. He had also muddied shoes.

Ding… Your Parallel Thinking has reached lv. 9

Ding… Your Economy of Movement skill has reached lv. 16

Ding… Your Rune Shaping skill has reached lv. 23

Ding… Your Base Mental endurance has reached lv.11

‘It’s seems moving subconsciously is synergizing with my Economy of movement skill.’

Jack now concentrated on the frontier.